I’m not claiming that my contribution is an authentic Roman recipe, it’s more of a “What would Kendel make with the ingredients in a Roman kitchen.”

Whereas the Romans would have used cereal grains like spelt, I’ve used brown rice which has been cooked with shallots and vegetable stock. Although brown rice was unknown to the Romans, I thought it would help hold the leaves together.

I’ll top the prepared stuffed grape leaves with tomatoes tomorrow and bake them before serving.

Hopefully the kids will feel like they’re truly at a Roman feast.

I still had leftover lentils and brown rice once the leaves were all stuffed so ate the extra stuffing as dinner.

With a simple drizzle of olive oil, these two easy ingredients made a filling and fancy-tasting dinner.

Lentils with Shallots and Brown Rice

Vegan ~ Vegetarian ~ Simple

Ingredients

For the lentils

1 can cooked lentils

2 bay leaves

For the rice

1/2 cup brown rice

1- 1 1/4 cups water

2 small shallots, chopped

1 tsp. vegetable stock granules

olive oil

fresh black pepper

Method

Cook the rice according to package instructions along with the addition of the shallots and stock granules.

Warm the lentils and bay leaves over medium-low heat until the bay leaves become aromatic.

Plate the rice and lentils together, drizzle with olive oil and season with pepper to taste.